Oakland's Infield Shuffle Exposes the McNeil Gamble

The Athletics optioned Max Muncy to Triple-A Las Vegas on Wednesday, activating Tyler Soderstrom from the injured list in a move that accelerates the team's pivot toward youth in the infield. Muncy, acquired and positioned as the Opening Day third baseman, has yielded playing time to Zack Gelof and utility prospect Joshua Kuroda-Grauer, who has hit .375 across his first eight major-league games. Manager Mark Kotsay indicated the A's may experiment with Muncy in the outfield during his Triple-A stint—a position he has never played professionally—suggesting the organization views his defensive fit as unsalvageable at traditional infield spots.

What Oakland is really admitting with this move is that the 2025 offseason acquisition of Jeff McNeil has deteriorated from underperformance to organizational liability. McNeil came over from the Mets with Oakland absorbing $10MM of his $15.75MM salary, a commitment justified only if the former batting champion could stabilize a floundering lineup. Instead, he has hit .228/.293/.305 across 288 plate appearances, with a particularly brutal .194/.250/.261 line since May 1. Among hitters with at least 150 plate appearances over that span, only two qualify as less productive than McNeil by weighted runs created plus. He was benched for three consecutive games heading into Wednesday—including two starts by right-handed pitchers, his supposed strength—and entered only as a bench option when Nick Kurtz fell ill.

The mechanics of McNeil's decline are worth isolating because they matter for what the A's lineup actually looks like going forward. This isn't a cold streak or a minor slump. His contact quality has degraded, his strikeout rate has crept up, and he's generating minimal power relative to his baseline. He's not playing himself out of this hole; he's being phased out. Oakland took on financial responsibility for a $15.75MM club option it will decline at season's end, leaving only a $2MM buyout New York must pay. McNeil's path back to regular at-bats requires either a dramatic June-through-September reversal or an injury to Gelof or Kuroda-Grauer.

For prop purposes, this lineup reshuffling narrows the A's offensive range considerably. Kuroda-Grauer's hot start suggests Oakland values his upside over established names, but a rookie hitting .375 across 33 plate appearances will regress—the sample is too small to sustain. McNeil's sidelining reduces middle-of-the-order consistency and might pressure the team's overall production. Gelof's move to a more permanent third-base role is the one stabilizing force; his .274/.328/.478 slash across 66 games, combined with his strikeout rate improvement, positions him as the lineup's most reliable power source. Team totals should lean slightly lower in the near term as the A's absorb regression from their rookie and face benching of a high-strikeout veteran, even if that veteran was underproducing anyway.